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Leading lineout thief tipped for Wallabies duty

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Lock Matt Philip is a wanted man in Melbourne and should also be back on the Wallabies radar, according to Rebels coach Dave Wessels.

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In barnstorming form this season, Philip was key to Melbourne’s 37-17 win over the Lions on Saturday night at AAMI Park – his 50th Super Rugby match.

He’s the leading Australian player in the Super Rugby competition for lineout steals and third overall, while he also set up at least one of the Rebels’ tries with his go-forward.

Philip has been linked to French club Pau but Wessels was confident that the 26-year-old would remain with the Rebels.

After playing his three Tests on the Wallabies’ Spring tour in late 2017, Wessels said he’d earnt another call-up.

“I don’t think Matt is heading to France but I can understand why French clubs want to chase a guy like that,” he said.

“Matt is a really great story, he’s one of those guys who really cares about the team so he’s really motivated by that but one thing he really wants to do is play for his country.

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“Matt is the type of guy who is going to have a good career with Australia. He’s waited a long time to have that opportunity but he’s earnt that now.”

Wessels admitted that he didn’t initially see the promise in Philip, who started his Super Rugby career with the Western Force before joining the Rebels for the 2018 season.

“I wasn’t going to sign Matt back in the day until Dane (skipper Dane Haylett-Petty) talked me into it at a hotel in Sandton (South Africa),” Wessels said.

“When he started out I wasn’t convinced but Dane saw it long before I did so Matt’s got Dane to thank.”

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– AAP

WATCH: Jim discusses the ramifications of the Six Nations going behind a paywall and no longer being shown on free to watch TV.

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
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